Love and Death in the American Novel

by Leslie A. Fiedler, Charles B. Harris (Introduction)

A retrospective article on Leslie Fiedler in the New York Times Book Review in 1965 referred to Love and Death in the American Novel as “one of the great, essential books on the American imagination . . . an accepted major work.” This groundbreaking work views in depth both American literature and character from the time of the American Revolution to the present. From it, there emerges Fiedler’s once scandalous―now increasingly accepted―judgment that our literature is incapable of dealing with adult sexuality and is pathologically obsessed with death.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Criticism, Writing, History, American, Literature

520 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Leslie Aaron Fiedler was an American literary critic, known for his interest in mythography and his championing of genre fiction. His work also involves application of psychological theories to American literature. He was in practical terms one of the early postmodernist critics working across literature in general, from around 1970. His most cited work is Love and Death in the American Novel (1960).